Christian Gerhaher in conversation with Knut Weber (19 min.)

Hardly any other singer appears more regularly as a guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker than the baritone Christian Gerhaher. Following unforgettable performances in the Bach Passions, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust and Pelléas and Melisande, the singer returned in October 2016 for Mahler’s profound symphonic cycle of orchestral songs, Das Lied von der Erde, together with the Philharmoniker, the tenor Christian Elsner and conductor Bernard Haitink. In conversation with Knut Weber, cellist with the Berliner Philharmoniker and orchestra board member since 2015, Gerhaher talks here about this late work by the composer, the question of whether his part was written with a male or female voice in mind, about Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s approach to Mahler and the autobiographical aspects of his music.